Emily the strawberry thief

Emily loves to run and get in front of the refrigerator whenever the door is opened. Tonight I happened to place the carton of strawberries right at her eye level in the fridge. When she had her chance, by golly, she took it! She grabbed the whole carton and made off like a bandit carrying the berries out of the kitchen, down the hallway, and over to the stairs. I couldn't help but laugh at her determination to make off with not one or two, but the WHOLE carton.

Birthday Girl

Wow, a year goes by so quickly! I can't believe we just celebrated Emily's first birthday. Jeremy and I feel so incredibly lucky and blessed to have a beautiful, healthy baby. She has been a joy to take care of this year. As she has grows, we get more and more glimpses of her personality and the precious creation God has made her to me. As I reflect on Emily's first year, I am filled with a few thoughts. Mainly, I can't believe how fast it has gone. EVERYONE says that, but when you are in the midst of not sleeping well or worrying about naps or adjusting to going back to work, it doesn't feel like it is going fast. As a new mother, EVERYONE gives you advice and opinions and while some it is helpful and welcomed, some of it is neither! I have been thankful to be able to turn to my sister this past year. It is so helpful to have a sister that has a baby just a little older than yours so you can talk about whatever you are dealing with at the time. Each baby stage is unique and only lasts a short time.

Emily's birthday was Sunday Aug. 8th, but we celebrated with the big party on Sat. Aug. 7th. We chose this day so that we could recover and unwind on Sunday after all the work that a party entails and also so that it would work out better for the B.G. family to come up on Saturday. Early on, I chose a watermelon themed birthday party because frankly, I love pink and green color combination, but also because Emily loves watermelon! Really, a one year old doesn't need a "theme", but it did make shopping for the party a little more fun. At first, I had all of these grand ideas, but then I realized how much time it was going to take to execute them, so we kept it pretty, but simple. I had an old college friend make a "Happy 1st Birthday" banner and "Emily" highchair banner. I made a pretty decoration from the chandelier with Emily's photos placed in the middle of pink or green cardstock and hung them with pretty polka-dot ribbons. Jeremy's birthday invitation set the theme with a cute photo of Emily outside posing with her head cocked sideways on a watermelon. We totally lucked out with her impromptu pose which was just adorable. A few pretty tablecloths, balloons, crepe paper and pink roses finished up the decorations.

Jeremy and I decided to have Mark's Feed Store BBQ and potato salad for the main lunch meal so that he wouldn't have to slave away on a hot grill. I made a 2 layer 9" round "watermelon" cake. It was actually strawberry cake and I decorated the sides with green icing and the top with pink icing and then placed chocolate chips in it for "seeds." Mom had a friend make chocolate cupcakes decorated with pink and green "watermelon" icing" and she also made a small smash cake for Emily. We also served watermelon balls and a yummy fruit salad that Nancy put together for us. We had plenty of food.

The party went well! Emily was in good spirits and well rested from her morning nap. Both sets of grandparents were there as well as Stephen and Laura's families, Mary Dennison and Holly, George and Janice Dunn, and Bryan Dennison and kiddos. When it came time to do Emily's cake and sing "Happy Birthday" she was a good sport, but her photos showed her looking a little scared by all the attention. Emily had never had any cake before so I don't think she even recognized the birthday cake as "food." She was VERY slow and timid about diving into the cake. She didn't really get very messy although we did encourage her. She showed way more enthusiasm about eating her watermelon and strawberries than birthday cake (hence the theme.) Emily showed interest in most of her presents (or the boxes) and toddled around as I opened them and she "helped" me from time to time. Jeremy and I were glad to have new toys and clothes for our little babe and very thankful for everyone's generosity. It was a sweet day and I pray we will have many more wonderful birthday celebrations.

Emily on her 1st birthday: 8-8-10

Little Miss Manners didn't get very messy as you can see.

Eskimo kisses with Mama

Am I supposed to eat this???

Looking a little scared.

Grancy, Poppy and Em

The proud parents

Mom, Dad, and all the grandbabies

Busy Body

It is a good think I've started this blog or would never be able to keep track of all of Emily's accomplishments! So much has happened between 10-12 months! Today at almost 12 months, Emily climbed a whole flight of stairs by herself! I think she could have probably done this a few weeks ago, but of course I've sheltered her from the stairs. Today I thought, "Well, why not? The climbing is good for her and she'll do it anyway eventually." I helped her little knees up the first step and watched as she pulled herself to stand on the next step. Then, I helped her up a few more steps just helping her get started and letting her do the rest herself. After about 4 or 5 steps, she did the remaining 10 by herself! She really got into a rhythm with it! We clapped for ourselves at the top of the stairs. I also tried to show her how to back down them, but she didn't want to learn that yet and cried if I tried to help her go backwards. For good measure, we climbed two more flights of stairs and Mom didn't help at all. Tonight, she went to sleep really easily so this may become a bedtime routine to use up some toddler energy if needed!

About two weeks ago, Emily started to "kick" balls on the ground. Watching her is like watching a soccer player do their footwork. She dances all around the ball hitting it in different ways. She also likes to throw balls and sometimes she'll do an impressive double handed throw of whatever toy she has in her hands at the time. Emily has also taken new interest in some of her stuffed animals. She likes Big Bird and her polar bear. She carries the polar bear around by his scarf which looks pretty comical. She doesn't care for any of her "lovies." When I try to give her a small stuffed animal to sleep with, she promptly throws it over the bed. In the mornings when we check on her, she's often thrown her small blanket and toy out of the crib. Emily is also into her wooden farm animals puzzle. She carries the puzzle pieces all around our upstairs rooms and it has become my personal challenge to find them all and put the puzzle back together while she sleeps.

I can't wait to take Emily to the doctor to get weighed and measured for height. She seems SO tall now! Her feet can touch the back seat of the car when she's in her baby car seat. We will be shopping for our next car seat soon. I think she is probably small to average for weight and probably average to tall for height. We'll see if I'm right.

Class Party

Our class at church had our annual dinner at George and Janice Dunn's house tonight. We had a really good turn out of friends and everyone brought lots of yummy food. George and Janice's house and garden were beautiful as always. Unfortunately, we had to say good-bye to two members in our class that are moving away next week. We will really miss the Lim family!

We brought Emily with us and had planned to stay out a little later tonight, but we learned another parenting lesson. When you think that you are now able to stay out later with your baby, you're baby still isn't ready. Emily became pretty fussy and cranky at 7:45 pm and we were just getting ready to eat dinner. :( Jer and I took turns holding her and trying to keep her calm, but she cried way more than she usually does at home. She wouldn't even take her bottle! We almost thought something was wrong with her. Sick? Teething? Overstimulated? Hot? It was very uncharacteristic. We left the Dunn's house at 8:20 and when we got home, Emily was still having trouble going to sleep, but seemed to be feeling OK. (I got her to laugh and giggle while nursing.) Finally at about 9:45 she fell asleep (late for her). The class had hired two babysitters to help take care of all the kiddos so the parents could visit, but unfortunately, that didn't really help us that much tonight!

I'm heading to bed now. SO Tired!

New milestones every day

So what has Emily been up to lately? Our little girl is walking like a champ now and yesterday she was able to stand up on her own from the floor without pulling up on anything. She probably has had the strength to do this for awhile, but yesterday she did it! I counted at least 5x that she did it yesterday.

I've been working with her on how to get on and off of the couch or chair safely. She's not climbing on them yet, but when she does, I want her to know how to get down (and NOT head first.) When she's up on my lap in the chair, I often guide her to get her feet down first when she gets off the chair. Well, this evening I was playing with Emily on the couch and she was getting squirmy and wanting to crawl and move on her own. I left her to her own devices to see what she would do (I was going to rescue her if needed.) Emily has been paying attention! She let herself down off the edge of the couch feet first and walked away safely without missing a beat! Proud mama!

Jeremy and I have noticed that she is understanding more of what we say and it can be seen through her play and actions. Yesterday Jeremy asked Emily, "Emily, where is your baby? Go get your baby and bring it to me." Emily's baby doll was on the kitchen floor and Jeremy was in the bathroom. Emily pitter-pattered into the kitchen to get the baby and pitter-pattered back to Daddy and handed it to him! I tried the same thing today and asked her to bring me her ball. She walked away, but didn't bring anything back to me. We are still working on consistency!

Finally, I'm not for sure if I've mentioned this before, but Emily is doing very well with feeding herself finger foods. She's been doing this for over a month and she's definitely mastered the "pincer grasp." She is pretty delicate with feeding herself one piece at a time, but she will throw food off the high chair if she doesn't want it or when she's finished so of course we have to watch her. We just give her a little at a time. We haven't tried any utensils yet and I'm really in no hurry. (It will be SO messy!) We still feed her cereals, yogurt, and other foods that are too messy for her to eat on her own.

Emily's first 4th of July

Now that it is the middle of July, I thought I should write up something about 4th of July this year before I forget! This year Jeremy and I weren't sure of what to do, but we definitely wanted to make plans because this is our favorite summer holiday. What's not to love about good food, fun in the sun, homemade ice cream, fireworks, and celebrating our great nation's independence? Growing up, my family usually went to the Herrington's big 4th of July party. I have many, many memories of this annual bash. (The Herringtons are related to us by my Granddaddy Meisel. It is his sister's family and the hostess is my mother's first cousin which makes her children my 3rd cousins.) Not too many people hang out with the 3rd cousins on 4th of July, but we have always been close to this side of our family because they also have always gone to our church. Over the years, we have played volleyball, horse shoes, and shot up fireworks, but the main draw has always been the fresh pulled pork BBQ and ribs and homemade peppermint ice cream. This year, Frances Anne hosted the bash on Sat. July 3rd. Jeremy and I timed our trip down to BG with Emily's morning nap which has lately been working out fantastically as she sleeps the whole way and is refreshed and ready to go when we get there 1 1/2 hrs. later. We swam in Nan and Pop's pool for awhile and had a relaxing afternoon.

This year, Suellen Whittle's entire family was there and it was really nice for Jeremy to finally meet all of them. My aunts and uncles were there on my Mom's side of the family as well as my whole family and new little nephews. The kiddos looked so cute in their 4th of July attire. On the actual holiday, we went to church, cooked out at Mom and Dad's and swam in the pool. It was another quick weekend in Bowling Green as we drove back that night. Emily fell asleep in the car seat and we had her in her PJs so all we had to do was put her in her crib when we got home. Here are a few photos from the 4th of July weekend.

Hanging out with Uncle Stephen

Cooper looks thrilled to be at the party! :p

High/low chairs?

Proud to be an American...

Mom, Emily, and Hunter. Cooper isn't in this one b/c her lap is only so big...

My beautiful baby!

Emily thinks Dad is so funny. Oh yeah, he is!

Yep, this is the best we can do. Cooper looks bored, Emily can't wait to eat,

and Hunter is in his own little world. Sadly enough, we really tried!

Posing on the new front porch. It was great to see the house coming together

after much research, time, and effort on Mom and Dad's part.

Father's Day 2010

Jeremy celebrated his first Father's Day this year! Jeremy has definitely become a seasoned parent over the past few months. I don't know what I would do without him. Sometimes I think about single mothers, divorced mothers, widowed mothers, and I am so thankful to have a wonderful husband and father in Jeremy. It is wonderful to be able to divvy up responsibilities, give each other a break when one of us is weary, and witness all of the beautiful baby moments together. It has been a joy to see him grow in his confidence in taking care of Emily. It is beautiful to see their father/daughter bond growing stronger every day.

This year, Emily got Jeremy a baseball batting tee. (She knows her Daddy so well already!) We also got Jeremy a book called Father's, Daughters, and Sports. The book caught my attention because I want Jeremy and Emily to experience a similar relationship that I had with my dad with sports. He didn't hesitate to teach me how to throw a softball or shoot a jump shot just because I was a girl. I can remember Dad hitting softballs to me in our large front yard and teaching me how to judge where it would land so I could catch it in the air. Dad would get home after working all day and still have energy to play with us until it was too dark outside. Many times he would still be wearing his work uniform.

Who knows if Emily will love sports or dancing or art. I know that Jeremy will be loving and supportive of her dreams. Happy Father's Day to my sweet husband and to Poppy and Pop who are both head over heels in love with their only granddaughter!